The present invention relates to a motor vehicle and fastening device for a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Fastening devices can be used to secure a covering, e.g. lining, trim, panel etc., to a body of the motor vehicle. For example, a fastening device can be used to connect a bumper cover to the body of the motor vehicle by using an appropriate fastening structure to ensure that the bumper cover cannot detach from the body in the absence of an external impact and thus held captive on the body.
The fastening device can be connected to both the body, e.g. the longitudinal member or cross member or component thereof, and to the covering. The fastening device is typically only slightly deformable so that a person can find support, for example, upon a bumper cover, mounted to the vehicle rear by the fastening device, when loading or unloading a trunk, without causing deformation of the fastening device. However, in the event of a horizontal force impact, e.g. during a rear-impact crash, the vehicle body is likely to get damaged in the region of the rear bumper cover, since the force is conducted virtually undamped directly onto the vehicle body as a consequence of the merely slight deformation capability of the fastening device. Thus, damage resulting in substantial costs can incur already in the event of an impact at slight speed upon the bumper cover or when hitting an object or the like.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to address these problems and to obviate other prior art shortcomings.